The future is as God ordaineth; He who the birds, and brooks, and sea, And earth, and heaven itself sustaineth— He hath provided too for me. EICHENDORFF.-Der frohe Wandersmann. THE MIDNIGHT WALK, I WANDER With the Spirit of the Night; E'en now were heard the peals of laughter light, And sobs of grief, within these lonely places. The maddest toper's glass no more is creaming; How all my hate, my grudges, melt away When, spent the storms of day, the earth reposes; The moon pours down her soft, consoling rayAy, though it were but over withered roses! Light as a tone, and silent as a star,' My soul pervades the space around me, seeming To be released from earthly bound or bar, That I may lose myself in others' dreaming. Mute-like a spy-my shadow dogs me on; O Fatherland, thy too devoted son. Right bitterly his love has expiated! He sleeps; what recks he of oppression now? Dreams he of home-the rill beside it streaming? Dreams he perchance of laurels round his brow? O God of freedom, leave him in his dreaming! I pass the palace of a sceptred lord ; 1 Leicht wie ein Ton, unhörer wie ein Stern. Wan as his diadem, the despot quakes; I mark in yonder hut-'tis scant, I deem— By the last house, upon the bench of stone I love thee well, child, yet not thee alone; I see a people, roused, their rights redeeming ; Thou dreamst of butterflies-of eagles I— Thou Star, like Joy, emerging from a cloud, O God of dreams, leave all of us our dreaming ! HERWEGH.-Der Gang um Mitternacht.1 1 Mr. Buchheim will, it is hoped, pardon my quoting the following passage from his note on this poem :- Herwegh is one of the most enthusiastic "poets of liberty." His Gedichte eines Lebendigen, in which the present poem first appeared, were published at a time (1841-43) when political life was quite stagnant on the Continent; and the gloom of despotism prevailed in Germany as well as in other countries. It was during this period that Herwegh's poems fell like a flash of lightning, arousing the youth of Germany to that enthusiasm which, effectively fanned by other poets and writers, gradually brought about her unity' (Deutsche Lyrik, p. 395). |